Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
BOSTON – A Lawrence, Mass., man was sentenced yesterday for operating a clandestine drug laboratory that manufactured thousands of fentanyl and methamphetamine pills and for possessing firearms that furthered his drug trafficking operation. The defendant fled the United States shortly before his trial.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Tyrell West, 31, of Maryland, was found guilty by a Superior Court jury yesterday of charges stemming from an incident where he strangled and punched his former romantic partner on November 26, 2025, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
An indictment was unsealed today charging César P. Borges-Arroyo, Neftalí Borges-Gómez, Erison Delgado-Santos, Héctor Fulgencio-Cabrera, and Ganaderos Borges Inc. (GBI), with four violations of the Clean Water Act as well as conspiring to violate the Clean Water Act. The charges relate to the discharge of pollutants from GBI into the waters of the United States.
GBI is a corporation in Naguabo, Puerto Rico, that operates a slaughterhouse and meat processing plant. The operations encompass receiving and holding live animals for slaughter, butchering animals (bleeding), initial processing of animals, and operations that produce consumer-ready meat products. According to the indictment, the defendants conspired for the benefit of GBI, to knowingly discharge a pollutant — specifically wastewater from the meat processing waste retention lagoon — into waters of the United States without having obtained a Clean Water Act permit.
“We allege that this meat processing plant and at least four of its employees conspired to pump animal flesh, blood, and feces into a creek that flows to the ocean and a public beach,” said Principal Deputy Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Energy and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). “The conduct alleged here sacrifices public health for economic gain, and it is a crime. The Department of Justice will hold violators accountable.”
“GBI repeatedly and intentionally violated the Clean Water Act by discharging untreated wastes into the Caribbean Sea at Tropical Beach in Naguabo,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Héctor Ramírez Carbó for the District of Puerto Rico. “This prosecution sends the message that those who purposely undermine federal environmental laws and endanger the environment and Puerto Rico communities will face felony prosecution for their illegal conduct.”
“The defendants’ willfully disregarded the complete prohibition on discharges under the Clean Water Act and knowingly sent a disgusting sludge of animal blood and waste, and cleaning products into the Caribbean Sea, only miles from nature preserves, beaches, and a military base. Illegal discharges such as these cause serious harm, jeopardizing the safety and health of the water, wildlife, and human health,” said Assistant Administrator Jeffrey A. Hall for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “EPA will ensure that polluters who blight our communities and coastal waters will be held accountable.”
Starting in August 2018 and continuing through at least September 2025, GBI president Borges-Arroyo and GBI operator Borges-Gómez directed employees including, but not limited to, Delgado-Santos and Fulgencio-Cabrera to discharge liquid waste from GBI’s waste retention lagoon towards an adjacent creek. They did this by using a submersible pump placed in the waste retention lagoon and connected to a hose, attempting to avoid millions of dollars in annual waste removal costs.
GBI generated waste from various on-site processes, including animal intake, slaughtering, hide removal, butchering, and cleaning. The waste included animal blood, hair, tissue, and feces, as well as grease, wastewater, disinfectant, and other liquids used inside the GBI slaughterhouse and processing areas. The mixed waste flowed from the facility to a discharge pipe that emptied into a waste retention lagoon located on the southwest corner of the GBI property. The western edge of the waste retention lagoon is adjacent to a creek which travels approximately half-a-mile to the Caribbean Sea at Tropical Beach in Naguabo, Puerto Rico.
GBI held a non-discharge wastewater treatment permit that required liquid waste to be hauled from the facility to a disposal facility. At no time was any waste permitted to be discharged on-site or to any other body of water. The permit expired on July 31, 2019, and they continued to violate the Clean Water Act until at least September 2025.
To conceal the illegal waste discharge, the defendants hid the submersible pump and hose when it was not being used and provided false and misleading statements and documents to authorities to hide the illegal activities.
The defendants are scheduled to appear before Magistrate Judge Héctor Ramos Vega of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico for their respective initial appearances. If convicted, they face a maximum penalty of five years in prison and $250,000 in fines for each charge. GBI faces a maximum penalty of $500,000 in fines per charge.
EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division investigated the case with assistance from the FBI. EPA and FBI participate in the Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands Environmental Crimes Task Force.
Senior Trial Attorney Patrick M. Duggan of ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth A. Erbe for the District of Puerto Rico are prosecuting the case.
Report possible violations of environmental laws and regulations at epa.gov/tips. You can provide tips anonymously if you do not want to identify yourself.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – An indictment was unsealed today charging César P. Borges-Arroyo, Neftalí Borges-Gómez, Erison Delgado-Santos, Héctor Fulgencio-Cabrera, and Ganaderos Borges Inc. (GBI), with four violations of the Clean Water Act as well as conspiring to violate the Clean Water Act. The charges relate to the discharge of pollutants from GBI into the waters of the United States.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Orlando, Florida – Maxwell David Horvath (37, Orlando) has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gregory A. Presnell to six years in federal prison for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. The court also ordered Horvath to forfeit 38 firearms, including silencers, short-barreled rifles, machineguns, and thousands of rounds of ammunition. Horvath pleaded guilty on March 4, 2026. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Zhu Chen, the owner of Cartersville-based flooring manufacturer Wellmade Industries; his nephew, Jiayi Chen; and Jianjun Lu, a Chinese national, face federal charges of forced labor, conspiracy to commit forced labor, and alien harboring arising from alleged illegal operations at Wellmade Industries.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
The Justice Department announced today that a federal court has entered a stipulated order resolving a case against consumer reporting company, RentGrow Inc., in a case investigated and referred to the Department by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The order imposes a $2.25 million civil penalty judgment and injunction against RentGrow to resolve allegations that it violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the FTC Act in connection with background reports it furnishes to assist landlords and property managers in screening tenants for rental housing.
“Tenant screening reports can significantly affect the outcome of a housing application. Consumers deserve to know that the information contained in those reports is accurate, that the reporting is transparent, and that they have a meaningful opportunity to address information that may affect them,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Justice Department is committed to ensuring that companies that collect and provide consumer information follow the law and maintain practices that support fair and informed housing decisions.”
In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the government alleged that RentGrow failed to maintain reasonable procedures to ensure maximum possible accuracy of the information in its tenant screening reports, failed to disclose to consumers upon request the information contained in those consumers’ reports and the sources of that information, and failed to comply with required procedures when a consumer disputed the accuracy of a report, in violation of FCRA. The government further alleged that RentGrow violated the FTC Act’s prohibition on deceptive business practices by misrepresenting to tenant applicants that upon successful dispute of their report, corrections to or removals of inaccurate information were reported to landlords and property managers.
The stipulated order resolving those allegations requires RentGrow to pay a $2.25 million civil penalty and imposes an injunction against it prohibiting the alleged misconduct and requiring related compliance reporting, monitoring, and recordkeeping.
The United States is represented in this action by Assistant Director Zachary A. Dietert and Trial Attorney Jordan A. Ryan from the Enforcement Section of the Civil Division’s Enforcement and Affirmative Litigation Branch. Whitney Moore, Jamie Hine, and Kamay Lafalaise represent the FTC.
For more information about the Enforcement & Affirmative Litigation Branch and its enforcement efforts visit www.justice.gov/civil/enforcement-affirmative-litigation-branch.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A federal grand jury in the Northern District of Georgia returned an indictment today charging Zhu Chen, 60, and Jiayi Chen, 31, both U.S. Citizens, and Jianjun Lu, 55, a Chinese national, all residing in Cartersville, Georgia, with forced labor, conspiracy to commit forced labor, and alien harboring.
According to court documents, Zhu Chen, together with Jiayi Chen and Jianjun Lu, recruited Chinese nationals through false pretenses to enter the United States on B-1 and L-1 visas to work at Wellmade Industries, a flooring manufacturer in Georgia. Upon the victims’ arrivals into the United States, the defendants kept their immigration documents and had them work 12-hour shifts, six days a week at the Wellmade Industries factory in Cartersville, Georgia. The defendants paid the victims less than promised and did not provide overtime or health benefits. They also threatened the victims with deportation and the imposition of sizeable debts and subjected them to verbal, psychological, and physical abuse. The defendants housed the victims in residences owned by Wellmade even though the victims did not have legal status under their visas.
All three defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit forced labor and forced labor. Zhu Chen is also charged with alien harboring. If convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg for the Northern District of Georgia, and Special Agent in Charge Steven N. Schrank of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Atlanta made the announcement.
HSI Dalton, Georgia; Bartow County Sheriff’s Office Special Operations; and Georgia Bureau of Investigations are investigating the case.
Trial Attorney Elizabeth Hutson of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Leanne Marek for the Northern District of Georgia are prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, Ryan Raybould, announced that Melvin Leonard Mitchell III, from Arlington, pleaded guilty on Aug. 5 to conspiring to commit wire fraud, unlawfully using another’s identity, and piloting a drone in flight-restricted airspace without a license.
Source: United States Spaceforce
The Department of the Air Force has selected Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, as the preferred location to replace the existing 26 UH-1N “Huey” helicopters with 26 HH-60W helicopters. Andrews will stand up the 5th Helicopter Squadron, the first unit on base to receive the HH-60W.